1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to utility buckets and, more specifically, to motorized self-draining utility buckets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All of the utility buckets found incorporate some sort of draining features. There are a few that forces draining. Typical of these is a U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,006 issued to Dunham, et al. on Oct. 5, 1999, which utilizes a manual pump assembly.
Most utility buckets are gravity draining. A patent was issued on one such buckets to Don A. Smith on Mar. 20, 1990 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,904. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 1,236,156 was issued to Walter. S. Finnell on Aug. 7, 1917 and still yet another was issued on Sep. 4, 2001 to Robert S. Robinson as U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,170.
Another patent was issued to Hardesty, et al. on Apr. 1, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,447. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,195 was issued to Blyth S. Biggs on Aug. 28, 2001. Another was issued to David A. Bowman on Dec. 12, 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,258 and still yet another was issued on Jan. 17, 1989 to William E. Evrard as U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,307.
Another patent was issued to Robert Rogan on Aug. 12, 1902 as U.S. Pat. No. 706,971. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 2,712,668 was issued to Hazel L. Thiele on Jul. 12, 1955.
There are other devices that incorporate forced draining which bears a similarity. One such patent was issued to C. Poufe and C. Lock on Nov. 6, 1894 as U.S. Pat. No. 528,563.
Motorized draining can be found in many devices such as wash stations and dishwashers. For example, a patent was issued on one portable wash station to Goyette, et al. on Jul. 3, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,394.